Lesson 3: What Other Factors Affect Characteristics? Chapter 7 Lesson 3: What Other Factors Affect Characteristics?

Vocabulary Preview Instinct: a behavior that an organism inherits Learned Behavior: a behavior that an animal acquires through experience Environment: all the living and nonliving things that surround and affect an organism.

Instincts Many of the things you do, such as reading, writing, playing games, and acquiring new skills, are learned. But some, such as eating and sleeping, are instinctive. An instinct is a behavior that an organism inherits. Since instincts are inherited, they are passed from parents to their offspring.

Instincts Have you ever observed a bird making a nest or watched a cat groom itself? If so, you’re familiar with some instinctive animal behaviors. These help an animal survive in its surroundings. Behaviors for building shelters, caring for young, and finding foods are usually instinctive.

Instincts Canadian Geese instinctively fly south for the winter and eat grain and water plant. Squirrels instinctively collect and store nuts and other seeds for winter. Cats instinctively eat when they are hungry, sleep when they are tired, and cover their wastes, care for their young by feeding and protecting them.

Instincts Instincts are not just behaviors of individual animals. Instincts are usually shared by all members of a species or by all males or all females of a species. Certain species of ants instinctively take care of aphids, which are insects that provide ants with food.

Instincts In addition to sharing species instincts, different breeds within a species may have slightly different instincts. Beagles, don’t have to be taught to track small animals. But they can’t herd sheep. Border collies don’t have to be taught to round up sheep, but they can’t hunt rabbits like beagles do. However, neither breed needs to be taught fear-both are born knowing to avoid danger.

Learned Behavior Birds instinctively build nests for shelter, but their nests are not all alike. Canada geese, build nests on the ground, using grasses and mosses. Ospreys build nests high above the ground and reuse old nests. Building a nest is instinctive, but using certain kinds of material is learned behavior.

Learned Behavior A learned behavior is a behavior an animal acquires through experience Ex: Cheetah’s are born with the instinct to hunt, kill, and eat other animals. To survive, however young cheetah’s must learn hunting skills from adults They must have experiences that teach them the best ways to hunt, track and kill. A young cheetah needs both instincts and experiences to develop hunting skills.

Learned Behavior You were born with the instinct to cry, but you learned to vary the pitch and loudness of your crying, depending on your needs. As you grew and developed you learned many other behaviors. Ex: how to walk, talk, dress yourself, how to bathe, and how to brush your teeth Though you had instinct how to eat you learned manner and how to use utensils

Learned Behavior Not all learned animal behaviors are used for survival Animals may learn some less important behaviors from people A parrot for example may mimic simple human speech. You teach your dog how to sit, shake, roll over.

Environmental Issues Some characteristics or behaviors are the result of environmental influences. An organism’s environment is everything in it surroundings that affects it, including water, air, soil, weather, and landforms. All living things have needs including food, water, space, and shelter. Plants need nutrients, sun, water. When an environment changes, all the things that live there are affected.

Environmental Issues Sometimes animals lose shelter or they can’t find enough food and water. SO they must move to get the things they need People fence off many parts of the environment. This reduces the size of livable space and forces animals to share habitats with people. Fences make it hard for animals to migrate or move to different habitats.

Environmental Issues Fences also cut through hunting grounds of predators such as mountain lions. When people cut down forests for timber, or dig up the land to mine for resources, they destroy habitats. Changes in the environment force animals to change their behavior. In areas where food becomes less plentiful, animals will learn to eat different foods.

Environmental Issues Wolves eat deer or mountain goats, but if there are not enough wolves may learn to eat cattle or sheep. Bears and deer have begun to wander into populated areas in search of food. This can also happen when people food wild animals.

Environmental Issues The environment can also cause a physical change in a species over time. Pollution kills many plants and animals. These poisons can damage the chromosomes of living organisms and can affect their offspring. Defects in animals can be caused by pollution and it changes the animals DNA.

Mutations from Pollution